SMM9 March 23: at 04:30 in the morning, Tesla held a press conference. Tesla, as one of the weather vanes of new energy vehicles, has always been the focus of public attention. Musk's annual shareholders' meeting and Battery Day held by Tesla at the Fremont factory in California is Tesla's first press conference specifically on battery technology.
The new "4680" battery released by Tesla has a 16% increase in mileage, a 5-fold increase in energy density, a 6-fold increase in electricity compared with polar ears, and the new battery can reduce the cost per kilowatt-hour by 14%. Musk also said that there are plans to halve battery costs, and plans to reduce battery costs include changing electrode materials and improving the integrated process of battery design and production.
After significantly reducing the cost of cells and battery packs, Tesla announced that his new goal in the future is to produce electric cars priced as low as $25000 (170000 yuan). "the new mode of production of the battery, as well as changing the materials inside the cell, will halve the price per kilowatt-hour of the Tesla battery pack, thus reducing the price of electric vehicles to a level similar to that of fuel vehicles."
Although new energy vehicles have been gradually accepted by consumers in recent years, there are still two major anxieties that are difficult to solve, one is the anxiety about the power battery mileage of new energy vehicles, and the other is that compared with fuel vehicles, it is plagued by the high price of new energy vehicles.
For a new energy vehicle, one of its major costs comes from power batteries, while for power batteries, a major source of cost comes from "cobalt". Because cobalt is expensive, power battery companies are interested in developing cobalt-free batteries. At present, cobalt-free battery solutions are mainly concentrated in the traditional lithium iron phosphate battery path. For example, BYD's blade battery is known as "super lithium iron phosphate battery." Electric vehicles equipped with blade batteries are expected to have a range of 700,000km.
Another way of cobalt-free battery scheme is to greatly reduce the content of cobalt. due to the instability of nickel, the safety of high-nickel and low-cobalt battery often needs new technical guarantee, but once the technical difficulties are overcome, the cost of power battery will be greatly reduced. At that time, the high nickel battery will have the double advantage of mileage exceeding cost. As Musk said on battery day, "if you maximize the use of nickel and reduce cobalt to zero, you can reduce the price by 50%."
In addition, he also said that the new mode of production of the battery, as well as changing the materials inside the cell, will halve the price per kilowatt-hour of the Tesla battery pack, thus reducing the price of electric vehicles to a level similar to that of fuel vehicles. From this point of view, once the super battery comes out, it will have a huge impact on the entire power battery, and the impact will even spread to the whole vehicle market.
In fact, the desire for a "super battery" is not just the wish of Tesla. In recent years, many power battery companies have joined this technological battle. For example, the Ningde era, as the number one power battery, announced in June that batteries with a total cycle charging range (total mileage) of up to 2 million kilometers and a life of up to 16 years can now accept orders and carry on production. Ningde Times said that the relationship between Ningde era and Tesla is strengthening, and now it is talking about the cooperation of 'cobalt-free' batteries.
Honeycomb Energy, a power battery company, also recently announced the official launch of a cobalt-free battery. Its cobalt-free battery is a traditional nickel-cobalt-manganese battery with cobalt-free treatment, and its main material is nickel-manganese, which can achieve a cobalt content of 0. its two products, a cobalt-free battery with an energy density of 245Whhand kg and a capacity of 115Ah, has a range of 600km, and another SOP, with a capacity of 226Ah will be completed in June 2021. The cobalt-free battery with an energy density of 240Wh/kg has a range of 880km and will complete SOP in the second half of 2021.
Tesla's stock price fell 7% instead of rising in the battery future. although Musk will frequently introduce new technologies, it does not seem to be recognized by the capital market, and many analysts are still worried about the feasibility of its superbattery. As Musk lowered his Battery Day forecast on social media on the eve of Battery Day, "the released content will affect long-term production, but it will take 2022 to achieve real mass production." The future of superbatteries is still hard to predict. But there is no doubt that whether it is low-cobalt or zero cobalt, or even the current heated discussion of hydrogen fuel cell or graphene battery, the road of new energy is bound to become the main pattern of future development.
